Process of forming individual foot-forms and fitting shoes thereon



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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES B. BUTLER, OF SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS.

PROCESS OF FORMING INDIVIDUAL FOOT-FORMS AND FITTING SHOES THEREON.

No Drawing.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES B. BUTLER, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, residing at San Antonio, in the county of Bexar and State ofTexas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes ofForming Individual Foot- Forms and Fitting Shoes Thereon, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates to foot forms and more particularly to a form whichwill be a replica of an individual foot and to a process of making suchreplica of each individual foot; and the object is to provide a processfor making forms for shaping or setting shoes for individual feet forthe purpose of making shoes conform to the shape of the feet withouthaving to break in or set.

the shoes by wearing the shoes. The advantage is that a person will nothave to go through the painful process of breaking in new shoes and theindividuals can have the forms made for themselves and retain them orthe shoe dealer may make the forms and keep them for preparing the shoesfor his customers. Another advantage is that the individual will alwaysget shoes that will fit his feet however ill-shaped or peculiarly shapedthe foot may be. Other objects and advantages will be fully explained inthe following description and the invention will be more particularlypointed out in the claims.

No drawings are furnished because of the nature of the subject matter.Each individual foot will differ from every other foot in shape orcontour and the invention lies more in the process than in anyparticular shape. The patented devices on the market for stretchingshoes stretch the shoes only in a general way, making them somewhatlarger all around and not adapting them to the particular shape of theperson who is to wear them. My process consists in taking shoes of theperson who has worn the shoes until the shoes have become set to thefeet of the wearer, filling the shoes with some pliable substance, suchas plaster of Paris and the like, which will become hard or firm andretain its shape when it becomes dry, and let the substance dry orbecome cured in the shoes. After the substance or plastic is dry orcured and hardened, remove the casts from the shoes which have beenworn. The

Patented Mar. 22, 1921.

Application filed October 9, 1919. Serial No. 329,608.

forms are then ready for use at any time. When the new shoes are to beadapted for use by the owner, they are placed on the forms by moisteningthe leather sufiiciently to make the shoes slip on the form and to makethe leather conform to the shape of the form. The shoes are left on theforms a sufficient length of time for the shoes to shrink in someplaces, stretch in other places, and become fixed or fitted to the exactshape of the forms.

WVhen the shoes have become set, they are removed from the forms and areready for wear and may be worn with as much comfort as shoes which havealready been worn and set to the feet. Each individual can have its owncasts made and set his shoes thereon, or his dealer may have the castsmade and set the shoes when his customer orders shoes before he fillsthe order. It is apparent that this invention cannot be illustrated bydrawings, as it would be a rare instance that the casts made for oneperson would answer the purposes of another person. Consequently theshapes or contours of the casts will differ with different persons. Theforms are for individual use. The means for moistening the leather ofthe shoes for placing the shoes on the casts may be some kind oflubricant or material which will not injure the quality of the leather.

What I claim, is,-

l. The herein described process of preparing foot forms and settingshoes which consists in providing shoes that have been worn by anindividual, preparing a plastic for filling the worn shoes, curing theplastic in the worn shoes, removing the worn shoes from the plastic,moistening the shoes to be set, and forcing the shoes on the formedcasts.

2. The herein described process of setting new shoes to the feet of thewearer which consists in selecting a pair of shoes already set to thefeet of the individual, preparing a plastic and filling the shoes,curing the plastic in the shoes, removing the worn shoes from theplastic, moistening the new shoes and forcing the same on the formedcasts, and removing the new shoes from the casts after the shoes havebeen set.

In testimony whereof, I set my hand, this 29th day of September, 1919.

JAMES B. BUTLER.

